LHM Daily Devotions - Come and Have Breakfast

"Come and Have Breakfast"

May 2, 2019

After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed Himself in this way. ... When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.

~ John 21:1, 9-14 (ESV)

Jesus cooking breakfast. What a quiet, humble, homely picture. It's not at all the way I would expect the Son of God to reveal Himself after His resurrection. If He had consulted me, I probably would have recommended some blow-out miracle before thousands, with assorted explosions and fireworks.

But Jesus didn't do that.

John tells us, "After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed Himself in this way. ... When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread." Think about the preparation of this meal. Jesus must have been on the shore for a little while, to have the fire at the right stage and the fish cleaned and ready to cook. And how exactly did He come by the bread and the fish? Certainly, He could have provided them by a miracle out of thin air, but that didn't seem quite His style. I suspect he had visited one of the nearby villages for supplies.

Be that as it may, Jesus looks over the preparations and decides more fish are needed. He asks the disciples to fetch them. It's a thing any campfire cook might ask. Never mind the fact that these particular fish Peter is running to fetch came by miracle. The emphasis here is not on glory. It's on providing. Jesus is feeding the disciples, and He's doing it partly through their own work.

When everything's ready, He calls the group to breakfast. He takes the bread and the fish and serves it to them with His own hands. No doubt they got a good look at the scars in His hands while He was serving them. But John doesn't say if they talked about that; he doesn't tell us anything of what they talked about or what they said while they were eating. It's not until after the meal that we get the account about Peter and Jesus and His question: "Do you love Me? Do you love Me?"

So what is the point of the breakfast by the sea? Perhaps simply that Jesus wanted to spend time with His disciples —to take care of them, to provide for them, to sit among them for a little while longer. Their company was precious to Him. Jesus revealed Himself as the God who desires our company, who wants to provide for us. Because He loves us, He has called us to believe in Him, to trust and follow Him until we are with Him forever.

THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, be with us and keep us with You. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
Jesus cooking breakfast. What a quiet, humble, homely picture.